(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design of card ejection mechanism for memory card connector and more particularly, to a card ejection mechanism with improved hook structure that prevents the ejected memory card from jumping away.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A memory card connector is known comprising an electrically insulative housing with terminal grooves, a metal cover covering the housing, a plurality of metal conducting terminals mounted in the terminal grooves of the electrically insulative housing, probe means mounted in the electrically insulative housing, and a card ejection mechanism mounted in one side inside the electrically insulative housing and adapted to eject the inserted memory card out of the electrically insulative housing. The card ejection mechanism is comprised of a slide, a spring member, a brake rod, and a hook. When one memory card is inserted into the memory card connector, the slide is forced to compress the spring member (there is another design in which the slide is forced to stretch the spring member), and the brake rod is moved along a sliding rail of the slide and positioned in one end of the sliding rail to force the hook into engagement with a retaining notch at one side of the inserted memory card. Therefore, the inserted memory card is secured in place. According to this design, the hook has a curved short spring arm having a free rear end. When a memory card is inserted into the memory card connector, the hook is compressed and forced into engagement with the retaining notch of the inserted memory card, however the free end of the hook is still kept in a suspending status. When the inserted memory card is ejected out of the memory card connector by the spring power of the spring member through the slide, the spring arm of the hook may be forced away from the retaining notch of the memory card by the impact of the spring member, causing the ejected memory card to jump away from the card ejection mechanism. In this case, the ejected memory card may be damaged or the user may need to spend much time in finding the ejected memory card. This problem is more serious in memory cards having light, thin, short and small characteristics.